Camping Trip - Short StoryRandom Prompt
by casshums
Summary: Short, simple, and spooky. A randomly generated prompt taken to a bit of a darker place. All feedback is welcome.


Random Prompt Generator: "On Halloween, a college student, a priest, and a girl investigate a forest."

Note: Not as close to the prompt as it could've been, probably could of kept to something cheesier. I tried something a little more complex though, hopefully it's not too shitty. Generic title is generic. All feedback is appreciated in comments below, chew me up guys.

Camping Trip

"Some say there's still a creature lurking in these very forests..." Group sitting by the fire, the priest reading off story after story of ghostly creatures and monsters. Only to finish with the acknowledgment of God's protection over the survivor in the stories. These children are quite impressionable however, and this only drives the cross straight into their heads. Idiots.

Taking this summer job, I knew that it would be difficult suppressing my atheism from the priest and the nunnery. But it was all that was available in the Jobs section of the local newspaper, next to the even less awesome news of another murderous rampage. Even I would snap if they shoved biblical shit down my throat as a way to shorten my sentence. Letting out a brief sigh I turn to watch the kids, their eyes wide at the heroic story of another "angel". Out of the crowd I noticed a hand raised, a small girl not but the age of 7 or 8.

"Yes my child?" The priest began, acknowledging the young girl. Put on the spot, she seemed to momentarily be petrified. "What is my child?" His pestering seemed to only make things worse, and soon he was back to babbling on about how blessed the survivor was in his obvious fable.

As the hours went by the kids fell asleep, one by one they were put into their sleeping bags. Tents zipped up and the priest hidden in another tent with one of the "nuns". This man just can't keep it in his pants. I cleaned up the campsite, relinquishing the fire in the process.

"Um… excuse me sir?" Turning around, I see the young girl from earlier approach me. Her hands clung to the bottom of her shirt, "Were… the stories he said true? Did God really save those people?" Oh shit. I knew this was coming. I knelt down, rubbing her back lightly, "Well, I don't think they are true. To be honest I don't really believe in God."

"Why?" Her quick response surprised me.

"I don't really know. I just don't think he exists."

"Then won't you die like the people in those stories?"

"Nobody knows how they'll die, but I doubt I will like in those stories. Shouldn't you be getting to bed with the others?"

She nodded, "Yes sir, I'll go to my tent now…", and off she went.

It was 3AM when I heard it. Screams of all sorts; children, women, men, even the wildlife seemed like they were screaming. I don't remember it all anymore, but I remember carrying someone, the little girl from last night.

A clearing in the forest… this is alright for now. How long had I been running? How heavy of a sleeper is she? What the hell happened back there… So many questions, but not enough time to answer. I knew they were coming.

The girl rested in my arms limp, sleeping soundly with only the faintest of breathing. A loud voice called from the forest.

"Is anyone there! Hello? Please, hello!?" It was the priest, however I knew calling out would only give our location to not just him but whoever caused this mornings chaos. His figure crept from the shadows of the forest, his clothing seemed burned at least half off. Quite a sight to see for someone of such high status.

"Oh thank goodness! You survived!" He ran towards us, tears filling his eyes as he blessed God over and over for our safety. The young girl still seemed to be able to sleep through all his obnoxious babbling. I simply nodded as he spoke, acknowledging that I could hear him. Though I didn't really feel like listening.

"Come now children, let us hurry out of this forest. God will help us, come and follow me." He started heading towards a dense portion of forest near the edge of the clearing, "Are you coming?" Ushering us over, I couldn't help but comply. Until I realized he seemed to be leading us away from civilization.

"Sir, isn't that the direction of the national forest? There won't be anywhere for us to go, and I doubt a park ranger would be out at 4AM in the morning." I could see him narrow his eyes, clearly displeased. At the edge of the horizon I could see a faint light, if what I learned in Boy Scouts is correct we should be heading towards the sun. Acknowledging none of what he said I carried towards the sunrise, only to come across more clearing.

The priest decided to follow me, although a few meters behind he was clearly watching. I wonder why he's so far back, that's a bit strange considering he was so touchy feel-y earlier when he found us. Green patches began to turn to brown, brown patches soon turned to dirt. Mounds of dirt slowly started popping up, some larger than others. I could feel an eerie silence come upon us, and looking back I could no longer see the priest.

"So you've found them…" A familiar voice, from a familiar priest greeted me. "I told you to just follow me, you could have just listened to me and you would have been safe." His sudden appearance started me, causing me to fall back as he loomed over me. "God just needs more angels in heaven, since too many are here on earth." Slowly his face began to shift, becoming more pale as his eyes blackened.

None of this makes sense, he's just being an ass. Setting the girl on the ground I found a large tree branch, I grabbed it and swung it straight to his head. He was quickly knocked unconscious and fell to the ground. That was way too easy, I knew he was just messing with me. I picked up the girl again, and continued on. The edge of a road greeted me along with signs leading to a rest stop. Least we can get there and call the police.

Walking the road was a slow and painful process, that didn't seem to bear any fruit. It was as if I was stuck in a loop, the scenery didn't even seem like it changed. This is getting exhausting… where is the rest stop? And why isn't there any traffic along this road? Was it closed down- The thought passed through my head, just as quickly as the flashing lights of road construction greeted me. I could clearly make out the body of an individual lying on the ground ahead. Finally I find someone, and they're taking a shit on the ground.

The walk cycle over seemed easy enough, just a few steps and-

"WAHHHHH!" I shrilled scream came from the tiny girl in my arms, startling me into nearly dropping her into the grass.

"What the hell is wrong with you!? Shouting so loud after just waking up!" She hadn't even seen the horrors of what had happened, so why is she so freaking loud?

"I-I'm sorry…" she began to stutter, "I just had a bad dream…" Her gaze shifted to the surrounding area. "Where are we?"

I sighed, picking her up again and putting her on my shoulder. "Some things came up… we have to make it to the next rest stop to call the police." I couldn't bare telling her what had occurred, she was only a child. She didn't get a moment to detest before we approached the man lying on the ground. Unfortunately though, this was no man.

Petrified she hid her head into mine, crying and babbling in confusion. The smell of corpse was putrid, it's skin had already began to lose color and fill with spores of the local flora. Head trauma, like he was hit by a car. Guess that explains the minimum traffic flow.

Stepping over the body I could see the edge of the road, it was finally over. "Hold on tight okay? Everything's gonna be okay, I can see the edge of the road!" Bumping the little girl a bit I could tell she had already fallen back asleep. Oh come on! I ran towards the end, only to find desolate mounds of dirt. Several chopped up bodies lying on the ground of the children, the priest burying their bodies bit by bit. The sight was repulsive.

I tried to turn around but all that greeted me was more dirt. Where did the freaking road go, are you serious? This all had to be a dream. I just had to do something to wake myself up. Wake up, wake up… WAKE UP!

Hitting myself in the face, pinching, even scraping wasn't doing anything. The pain was all too real. The show attracted the attention of the priest, however he didn't act towards it. He simply wore a menacing grin along his face, as he hummed biblical hymns and buried the chopped up remainders of the children.

"Where are we?" I looked up to see the young girl well awake, looking along the mounds. I quickly reached up to cover her eyes, she didn't deserve this. "Haha! Are we playing peek-a-boo? How about I do it to you?" No! NO! Her small hands covered my eyes. Where was the priest now? I can't move her hands, I can't even feel my body where am I?

"Where are we?" A light shone from the darkness, her voice faint in the distance. I could feel myself walking towards it. Another clearing, this time along a road at a rest stop. Looking around I ran to the nearest phone.

"911, What's your emergency?" Another person's voice, nothing ever heard before. So gentle and soothing. In a ramble of words I somewhat managed to get enough information for her to send a State Trooper. Squeezing the phone coil, I placed the phone back onto its post. Wait… where is the girl? I grabbed upward towards my head, and began to panic. She wasn't anywhere. The priest, the bodies… her hands? What was that? Am I in her hands still? Pinching myself, punching, kicking the walls of rest stop, only brought upon stares from surrounding passerby.

The State Trooper pulled along the side where I stood, and began asking numerous questions. He drove me along the road I recalled walking miles along. I told him about the construction and the corpse; neither of which appeared. I tried to find the clearing, the mounds of dirt, anything; nothing. I walked along the path I remember jolting along through the woods, holding the girl in my arms. We found the campsite, burned down as it had been. But no one was there. No blood or bodies. Except…

A small girl crawled from her tent, stretching her arms and looking up into the sky. It was her, the girl I had carried all that way. I fell to my knees crying, I was so happy to see her. I hugged her immediately as she looked around in confusion.

"W-Who are you?" Concern flashed over me, I looked at her in the eyes. I knew it was her but why couldn't she remember me? A figure stumbled from the brush, it was the priest. Drawing his gun, the State Trooper called for the priest to disarm and put his hands up.

The priest cried out, "Arrest him! He's burned our campsite and he tried to kidnap my daughter!" What!?

I don't know quite how it happened, but I'm in a jail cell now. They say that I burned down their campsite, that I tried to kidnap their daughter. The priest wasn't even a priest, his name was Asher Nevio. His daughter was Angelina Nevio. Neither of these names even sounded familiar to me.

A park ranger claimed he saw me drinking before entering the national park that night. They had been searching for me since then only to find I had been digging around an open clearing. When they let me leave, I somehow wandered into this family's campsite. His wife and him had entered their tent before his wife heard screaming from her son, whom I apparently had burned his tent down. She claims that I grabbed Angelina, whom was diagnosed with narcolepsy during the trial, and ran off with her. Asher had followed me carefully, trying to convince me to go towards a group of cops hidden in the thicker part of the forest.

It all doesn't make sense to me. Then again, I was diagnosed with schizophrenia during the trial. You can make sense of it all, can't you reader?


End file.
